That like to serpents stung,

Piercing the weather. None from his fellow starts; But, playing manly parts, And like true English hearts,

Stuck close together.

When down their bows they threw,

And forth their bilboes drew,

And on the French they flew:

Not one was tardy.

Arms were from shoulders sent,
Scalps to the teeth were rent,
Down the French peasants went:
Our men were hardy.

This while our noble King,

His broad sword brandishing,

Down the French host did ding,
As to o'erwhelm it;

And many a deep wound lent;
His arms with blood besprent,
And many a cruel dent

Bruised his helmet.
Gloucester, that duke so good,
Next of the royal blood,
For famous England stood

With his brave brother;

Clarence, in steel so bright,
Though but a maiden knight,
Yet in that furious fight

Scarce such another!

Warwick in blood did wade, Oxford, the foe invade,

And cruel slaughter made,

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

(1564-1593)

FROM

THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR

FAUSTUS.*

Enter Chorus.

CHORUS. Not marching in the fields of Thrasymene,1

Where Mars did mate2 the warlike Carthagens;

Nor sporting in the dalliance of love,

In courts of kings where states is overturn 'd;

Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds, Intends our Muse to vaunt her heavenly

verse:

10

Only this, gentles, we must now perform
The form of Faustus' fortunes, good or bad:
And now to patient judgments we appeal,
And speak for Faustus in his infancy.
Now is he born of parents base of stock,
In Germany, within a town call'd Rhodes: +
At riper years, to Wittenberg he went,
Whereas his kinsmen chiefly brought him up.
So much he profits in divinity,

1 The scene of Hannibal's defeat of the Romans, 217 B. C. Marlowe means that his drama is not to deal, like others, with wars and intrigues.

2 cope with

4 Roda, near Weimar. 5 where

The

it

3 statehood, majesty The Faust legend, which embodies the old fancy of a compact with the Evil One, had its origin in the life of a certain German doctor (1. e. learned man) of evil character, Johann Faustus, who, dying about 1538, was reputed to have been carried off by the devil. tales that grew up about his memory were collected in "The History of Dr. Faustus, the Notorious Magician and Master of the Black Art," published at Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1587. A translation was printed in England and Marlowe immediately dramatized (1588); since then the story has appeared in many forms. Marlowe's drama was probably not printed in his lifetime. The editions dated 1604 and 1616 differ in many particu lars and certainly neither of them gives us the text as he left it. It is possible that none of the comic scenes, the mingling of which with tragedy came to be one of the characteristics of Elizabethan drama, were from his pen. The extracts given above present only the central tragic theme. The 1616 text is followed, with scene numbers inserted to correspond with A. W. Ward's divisions of the 1604 text.

[Reads. Si una eademque res legatur duobus, alter rem, alter valorem rei, &c.16

A petty case of paltry legacies!

[Reads.

[Exit. FAUST. Their conference 10 will be a greater help to me

Than all my labours, plod I ne'er so fast.
Enter Good Angel and Evil Angel.

G. ANG. O, Faustus, lay that damnèd book

aside,

And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soul, And heap God's heavy wrath upon thy head! Read, read the Scriptures:-that is blasphemy.

Ay, we must die an everlasting death.
What doctrine call you this, Che sera, sera,
What will be, shall be? Divinity, adieu!19
These metaphysics of magicians,
And necromantic books are heavenly;
Lines, circles, scenes, letters, and characters;
Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires.
O, what a world of profit and delight,
Of power, of honour, and omnipotence,
Is promis'd to the studious artizan!
All things that move between the quiet poles
Shall be at my command: emperors and
kings

50

art21

70 Wherein all Nature's treasure is contain 'd: Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky, Lord and commander of these elements. [Exeunt Angels. FAUST. How am I glutted with conceit of this! Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please, Resolve me of 22 all ambiguities, Perform what desperate enterprise I will? I'll have them fly to India for gold, Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,

And search all corners of the new-found world23

80

For pleasant fruits and princely delicates; 24
I'll have them read me strange philosophy,
And tell the secrets of all foreign kings;
I'll have them wall all Germany with brass,
And make swift Rhine circle fair Witten-

berg;

I'll have them fill the public schools with silk, Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad; I'll levy soldiers with the coin they bring, And chase the Prince of Parma* from our

land,

90

And reign sole king of all the provinces;
Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war,
Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp-bridge,t
I'll make my servile spirits to invent.

Enter Valdes and Cornelius.
Come, German Valdes, and Cornelius,
And make me blest with your sage conference.
Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius,
Know that your words have won me at the
last

To practise magic and concealed arts.
Philosophy is odious and obscure;
Both law and physic are for petty wits:
'Tis magic, magic that hath ravish'd me.

23 America 24 delicacies

100

20 conversation 21 black art, i. e.. magic 22 interpret for me Alexander Farnese, the famous Governor of the Netherlands, who subdued Antwerp in 1585 and later planned at Philip II's orders to invade England.

Ships set on fire and driven against the Antwerp bridge to burn it down.